Grease

"Grease is the word."

1978 1h 50m EN

👍

7.4

SOLID

★7.4TMDB · 7,854

RomanceComedy

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Australian good girl Sandy and greaser Danny fell in love over the summer. But when they unexpectedly discover they're now in the same high school, will they be able to rekindle their romance despite their eccentric friends?

“Grease is the word.”

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Cast

Olivia Newton-John
Sandy
John Travolta
Danny
Stockard Channing
Rizzo
Jeff Conaway
Kenickie
Barry Pearl
Doody
Michael Tucci
Sonny
Kelly Ward
Putzie
Didi Conn
Frenchy

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Randal Kleiser
Writers: Bronté Woodard
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America, United Kingdom

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Grossed $396M — a 66.0× return. The kind of profit studios chase for a decade.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

48 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

International production across 2 countries: United States of America, United Kingdom.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

CINEMA

Did you know

Part of the "Grease Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Randal Kleiser, shot by Wilmer Butler. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Jim Jacobs. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor John F. Burnett shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta and Stockard Channing carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Randal Kleiser directs. Wilmer Butler behind the camera. Jim Jacobs scores. John F. Burnett cuts. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United States of America, United Kingdom. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Grossed $396M — a 66.0× return. The kind of profit studios chase for a decade.
248 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
3International production across 2 countries: United States of America, United Kingdom.
4Part of the "Grease Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
5Directed by Randal Kleiser, shot by Wilmer Butler. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
6Original score by Jim Jacobs. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
7Editor John F. Burnett shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
8Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta and Stockard Channing carry the top of the cast.
9Marketing tagline: "Grease is the word.".
10IMDB entry: tt0077631 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
11Classified under 37 themes, including "australia", "high school", "flying car", "california".
12Released under 10 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: Wilmer Butler
Original score: Jim Jacobs
Editing: John F. Burnett
Production design: Philip M. Jefferies
Costume design: Albert Wolsky
Makeup / hair: Christine George
Sound: Bill Varney
Stunt coordinator: Wally Crowder
Runtime: 110 min · 1h 50m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $6,000,000
Box office: $396,271,103
Return: 6605% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): PG
IMDB: Grease (1978)

Part of

Grease Collection

A series of romantic musical films about clashing cliques of high schoolers in the 1950s and 1960s.

Also by

Randal Kleiser

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Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

Cat Ellington2017-02-11
Grease is definitely the word! ... When my family (my mother, my brother, and I) went out on our traditional weekly "Movie Date Night" (as we so lovingly named it during that time) to see Grease at the Chicago Theater, "Thank God It's Friday" had been playing at the old State and Lake Theater right across the street from the CT. And me being a hopeless Donna Summer fanatic, naturally I'd wanted to see "TGIF" too, but it had to be Grease, first, because our tix were purchased in advance ... And also because we were only committed to one movie at a time...sometimes. 😊 I was glad, however, that we got to see Grease, because I was in love with this film by the time it ended. It was one of my most cherished childhood experiences/memories. And I still hold it dear today. This Randal Kleiser directed musical was one of the greatest cinematic oeuvres of its time - even today, undergoing readaptations for the stage, and entertaining both past and present generations. In Grease, the film, John Travolta (my guy) and Olivia Newton-John (my girl) star as Danny and Sandy, who meet one summer at the beach and fall madly in love. However, there's one problem: Danny is a local fella (and a 'T-birds greaser gang member'), while Sandy (pure and clean-cut from Australia) is only in town vacationing for the summer. When the summer ends, their newfound (and passionate) relationship may also have to. But will it?... Set in 1950s California, Grease is a motion picture for the Hollywood history books. It is tremendously directed, with a beautifully-composed soundtrack. And the cast? Well, what can you say when you have a gifted supporting ensemble of some of the best in their respective crafts: Stockard Channing, Frankie Avalon, Eve Arden, Joan Blondell, Sha-Na-Na, Sid Ceasar, and Alice Ghostley, among a talented bundle of others. Grease is one of my all-time favorites. The story is grade A, and so are the legendary performances, as is the equally fabled soundtrack to which it is set. I love this movie, and highly recommend it to everyone ... Especially those of you, who like me, harbor a passion for musicals.
John Chard2020-02-01
★ 8/10
You're a fake and a phony and I wish I never laid eyes on you! Grease is directed by Randal Kleiser and stars John Travolta, Olivia Newton-John, Stockard Channing & Jeff Conaway. It's co-written by Jim Jacobs, Warren Casey (Musical), Bronte Woodard & Allan Carr. 1958 and Danny (Travolta) has a holiday romance with the pretty and virginal Sandy (Newton-John). She ends up going to the same high school as he, but he's under peer pressure to stay cool and uphold a tough guy image. They fall out, argue, make up, their friends are equally unstable. Oh and there's the small matter of some truly memorable songs and dances too. As full of gusto as it is cheese, Grease is the musical that's hard to dislike. The acting is so-so, the direction one dimensional and the plot could have been written on a 50s beer mat. Yet we love it because of its faults, the kooky charm that sidles up alongside those roaring tunes. We care not that these actors are too old to play high schoolers, the fun is watching them have fun being teens again. Hell there's even innuendo unbound and cheeky lyrics for those of an adult mind. A truly great fun movie that's longevity shows no time of ending any time soon. Watch it, enjoy, sing along, pick a favourite tune and character, and then salute it; for Grease is the word baby. 9/10
SierraKiloBravo2020-07-27
★ 6/10
Click here for a video version of this review: https://youtu.be/gvGcY-PMazg I don’t even know when I added it to my watchlist, but working through my backlog, the musical Grease suddenly became the next movie to watch. This is of course a classic and I cannot name one person who does know at least one song from it. So, deep in your brain somewhere, you’re probably aware generally of what this is about, but here is the official description: Good girl Sandy Olsson and greaser Danny Zuko fell in love over the summer. When they unexpectedly discover they're now in the same high school, will they be able to rekindle their romance? Made in 1978 but set in 1958 this is a whole lot of toe tapping fun. Almost all of the songs are instantly recognisable, and although I will never admit it, I may or may not have slid across our kitchen tiles on my knees after watching it, yelling “it’s ELECTRIFYING”. What’s interesting watching this now is how lewd this is. So much of this went way over my head when watching this as a kid. Condoms breaking, calling cars pussy wagons, singing about chicks creaming and swimsuits getting damp, I forgot how much double entendre and innuendo there is in the song lyrics and the movie as a whole. What’s even more interesting is the theory of how Sandy in fact died on the beach in the opening scene and that the rest of the film is the dying, oxygen starved fantasy of her brain. Think about it - in the song “Summer Nights” from Sandy’s point of view, Danny says that when he met Sandy, “I saved her life; she nearly drowned.” What if I told you that, in reality, she did drown hence why on the beach Sandy, as she enters the alternate plane asks him “Is this the end?” He replies, “Of course not. It’s only the beginning.” She then has the dying brain fantasy of a year of high school romance with Danny, the visions get more and more outlandish as the time passes, before, at the climax of the movie she and Danny drive off in a car that leaves the ground and drives off into heaven, in what we can only speculate are her final moments. Anyway that’s something to think about next time you watch it. Either way it’s a good fun movie and always worth a watch.